2014 STEP Award Honorees

“Being open and effectively listening to people are critical skills. Manufacturing is all about efficiently developing solutions. By seeking out team members with diverse sets of skills, and allowing them to share their expertise, you will be able to deliver solutions to problems you once thought unworkable.”

Dianna uses her outstanding technical skills and systematic approach to analyze, document, and determine why parts fail in the field. This leads to re-engineering and ultimately successful reimplementation. She demonstrates exceptional attention to detail and tenacity in assessing materials and creating analysis reports that are actionable.

One of the most important aspects of Dianna’s position is to provide timely feedback to the operations team when a quality problem is identified and to assure that good parts are supplied to the assembly line. Dianna demonstrates both initiative-taking and diligence as she works with colleagues and suppliers to resolve issues and reach a long-term solution. This is driven by her commitment to quality.

Dianna is also passionate about reaching out to younger engineers and students. Last fall, the Caterpillar Lafayette plant organized a recruiting event on the Purdue University campus. As a recent graduate of Purdue, she was able to relate her experiences in the Caterpillar materials training program as well as the type of analytical work done by materials engineers. Early this year, Dianna participated in a program at Purdue to encourage high school girls to consider careers in engineering and science. She has demonstrated a genuine interest in working with young people and in making them aware of the opportunities available in technology fields.